5

Developing the Schedule

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 Outline
• Estimating Activity Resources
• Estimating Activity Durations
• Developing Project Schedule
• Determining the Earliest and the Latest Start and
Finish Times and Total Slack for Activities
• Identifying the Critical Path of Activities
• Project Control Process
• Updating and Controlling the Project Schedule
• Critical Success Factors
• Summary
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 Concepts in this chapter support:
Project Management
Knowledge Areas from
Project Integration Management
PMBOK® Guide Project Schedule Management

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 Estimating Activity Resources
• It is necessary to estimate the types and quantities of resources
that will be required to perform each specific activity in a project
• Resources include
• People, materials, equipment, facilities
• A number of factors influence the duration of an activity:
• Availability of the resources
• Types of resources
• Sufficient quantities of resources for the activity durations
• Potential conflicts with other projects may cause
• Involve person with expertise in resource estimate
• Estimates influence costs
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 Estimating Activity Durations
• Once the types and quantities of resources are estimated
for each activity, estimates can be made for how long it
will take to perform the activities
• Duration must be the total elapsed time (time for the
work to be done plus any associated waiting time)
• Historical data can be used as a guide in estimating the
durations of similar activities

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 • Durations should not be too
Class Discussion short to try to win the
• Explain the statement: contract
• Inflated estimated durations
is not good practice
The estimated
• Project manager may not be
duration should be
able to negotiate shorter
aggressive yet durations
realistic. • Some activities will take
longer and others shorter
durations than planned
• As the project progresses,
level of confidence for
accuracy increases

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 Estimating Activity Durations

• What happens if an activity is delayed and will be its impact on the project?
• What happens if an activity finishes early?
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 Establish Project Start and Finish Times
• It is necessary to select an estimated start time and a
required completion time for the overall project. This
is important in order to establish a basis from which
to calculate a schedule using the estimated durations
for the activities
• Define the overall window of time in which the
project must be completed
• May not want to commit to a specific date
• Project not start until customer has approved the contract
• Delay in contract signing may impact project start
• Set finish time as number of days from project start
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 Developing Project Schedule

• Prior activities for schedule development

• Estimate duration of each activity
• Establish overall window of time for the project
• Develop the schedule timetable
• Earliest start and finish times based on estimated start date
• Latest start and finish times based on required completion
date

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 Earliest Start and Finish Times

• Earliest start time (ES)

• Earliest time at which a specific activity can begin
• Earliest finish time (EF)
• Earliest time by which a specific activity can be completed
• EF = ES + Estimated Duration
• Calculate forward through the network diagram from
the beginning of the project to the end of the project

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 Rule:

The earliest start time for a specific activity must

be the same as or later than the latest of all the
earliest finish times of all the activities leading
directly into that specific activity.

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 Earliest Start and Finish Times Calculation
• Why is the ES for “Dress Rehearsal” 10?

• The latest of the three EFs is day 10—the earliest finish time for “Make Costumes.”
• Therefore, “Dress Rehearsal” cannot start any earlier than day 10. That is, its ES must be day
10 or later.

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 “Identify Target Consumers”

• Start date = 0
• ES = Start date = 0
• Duration = 3
• EF = 0 + 3 = 3

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 “Develop Draft Questionnaire”

• ES = EF Task 1 = 3
• Duration = 10
• EF = 3 + 10 = 13

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 “Pilot-Test Questionnaire”

• ES = EF Task 2 = 13
• Duration = 20
• EF = 13 + 20 = 33

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 “Review Comments & Finalize Questionnaire”

• ES = EF Task 3 = 33
• Duration = 5
• EF = 33 + 5 = 38

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 “Prepare Mailing Labels,” "Print Questionnaire," "Develop Data
Analysis Software," and "Develop Software Test Data"
• ES = EF Task 4 = 38
• Task 5
• Duration = 2
• EF = 38 + 2 = 40
• Task 6
• Duration = 10
• EF = 38 + 10 = 48
• Task 7
• Duration = 12
• EF = 38 + 12 = 50
• Task 8
• Duration = 2
• EF = 38 + 2 = 40
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 “Mail Questionnaire & Get Responses”

• Latest of Tasks 5 and 6 = 48

• ES = EF Task 6 = 48
• Duration = 65
• EF = 48 + 65 = 113

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 “Test Software”

• Latest of Tasks 7 and 8 = 50

• ES = EF Task 7 = 50
• Duration = 5
• EF = 50 + 5 = 55

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 “Input Response Data”

• Latest of Tasks 9 and 10 = 113

• ES = EF Task 9 = 113
• Duration = 7
• EF = 113 + 7 = 120

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 “Analyze Results”

• ES = EF Task 11 = 120
• Duration = 8
• EF = 120 + 8 = 128

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 “Prepare Report”

• ES = EF Task 12 = 128
• Duration = 10
• EF = 128 + 10 = 138

• The required completion time for this entire project is 130

days. 138 days is 8 days beyond the required completion time,
therefore the project was not completed in the required time.

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 Schedule Table ES and EF

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 Latest Start and Finish Times

• Latest start time (LS)

• Latest time by which a specific activity must be started
• Latest finish time (LF)
• Latest time by which a specific activity must be completed
• LS = LF – Estimated Duration
• Calculate backward through the network diagram
from the end of the project to the beginning of the
project

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 Total Slack
• Sometimes called float (pause)
• The difference between EF time of last activity and the
project required completion time
• Negative slack
• Lack of slack over the entire project
• Amount of time an activity must be accelerated
• Positive slack
• Maximum amount of time that the activities on a particular
path can be delayed without jeopardizing on-time completion
• If the total slack is zero, the activities on the path do not
need to be accelerated, but cannot be delayed
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 How much slack is in this
Student Discussion
project to put up new
wallpaper?

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 Possible responses to • The total completion time is 20
Student Discussion days
• How much slack is in • The tasks take 15 days (7 + 5 + 3)
this project to put up • The project has 5 days of slack
new wallpaper?

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 Identifying the Critical Path of Activities

• The critical path is the longest path in the overall

network diagram
• One way to determine which activities make up the
critical path is to find which activities have the least
amount of slack

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 Critical Path Through a Project

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 Change in Slack for Critical Path

• If the estimated duration of the Mail Questionnaire & Get Responses task is
reduced from 65 days to 55 days, then the tasks on the critical path will
have a total slack of 2, the least amount slack in the project
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 Bar Chart Format

• Gantt chart tool for

planning and scheduling
• Activities on side
• Time scale on top or bottom
• Estimated duration in bars
• Automatically generated in
software systems
• Can show relationships
between activities

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 Class Discussion • If any activity on the critical
• Why is it important to path is delayed, the whole
determine the critical project will be delayed, so
path of a project? it is important to know
• What happens if what the critical path is.
activities on this path • If any of these activities are
are delayed? accelerated, the project
completion date will also
• What happens if be accelerated.
activities on this path
are accelerated?

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 Project Control
Process
• Establish regular
reporting meetings to
compare actual to
planned progress
• Gather data on actual
performance
• Record information on
changes to the project
scope, schedule, and
budget
• Monitor progress

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 Effects of Actual Schedule Performance

• Part (a) Total slack = +5

• Part (b) Total slack = +2

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 Incorporate Changes into Schedule

• Changes may impact the schedule

• Initiated by customer or project team
• Result from unanticipated occurrence
• Early change may have less impact than later change
• Manage requested changes
• Estimate impact
• Obtain customer approval
• Revise project plan, schedule, and costs

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 Updating Project Schedule

• Generate forecasts for project finish

• Use actual finish dates of completed activities
• Enter project changes
• Update project schedule
• An important part of updating project schedules is
determining if any changes have occurred on the
critical path

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 Controlling Project Schedule

Schedule Control Steps Actions

1. Analyze the schedule for • Repeat steps if not acceptable
needed corrective action results
2. Decide specific corrective • Apply efforts to paths with
actions to be taken negative slack
3. Revise the plan to • Near-term activities (that are in
incorporate corrective progress or to be started in the
immediate future)
actions
• Long estimated durations
4. Recalculate the schedule
• Change may shift critical path
to evaluate the effects of
the planned corrective • Trade-off of costs and scope
actions
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 Project Management Information Systems

• Most systems perform scheduling functions

• Calculates at click of the mouse
• ES, EF, LS, and LF
• Total slack
• Critical path
• Perform control functions

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 Question 13
• Calculate the ES and EF times for each activity in the
figure below and identify the critical path for the project.
Can the project be completed in 40 weeks?

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 Critical Success Factors
• The key to effective project control is measuring actual
progress and comparing it to planned progress on a
timely and regular basis and taking any needed
corrective action immediately.
• If corrective actions are necessary, decisions must be
made regarding a trade-off of scope, time, and cost.
• The critical path is the longest (most time-consuming)
path of activities in the network diagram.
• Any type of change—whether initiated by the customer,
the contractor, the project manager, a team member, or
an unanticipated event—will require a modification to
the plan in terms of scope, schedule, and/or budget.
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 Summary
• Estimating Activity Resources (types & quantities)
• Estimating Activity Durations (elapsed time & historical data)
• Developing Project Schedule
• Determining the Earliest and the Latest Start and Finish
Times and Total Slack for Activities
• Identifying the Critical Path of Activities
• Project Control Process
• Updating and Controlling the Project Schedule
• Critical Success Factors

A© 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.